I recently deleted many Facebook friends. Not out of anger, sadness, or even frustration. I was simply trying to clean it up and make it more of what it is, a social network. I didn't need it to mimic real life. I have a real life. It is filled with friends, acquaintances, and family.
I think we can all agree that Facebook has become a massive connection to one another. So much so, that most of us follow people on Facebook more than we actually talk to or visit them. On one hand, this is great. You can't see everyone on a regular basis, but you can online. Facebook allows us to keep in touch from afar, to see what people are up to, share photos, vent for everyone to hear, share happy moments. We live busy lives and it is easier to sit at the computer than take time out to call.
On the other hand, it becomes so consuming. You get addicted to checking on Facebook. You spend so much time on it that you could have made several phone calls already. Sometimes the things you read are negative, unpleasant, or even offensive, but yet we go back for more. Sometimes people can be a too interested in what you are up to.
I had made the decision to just scale down my "friends" on Facebook, not in real life! There is a difference! If I have a true issue with someone and felt the need to discuss it with them, I would do just that. Some people I didn't feel the need to have as "friends", for several reasons. Some are not so active on Facebook anyway, some I see often in real life, some I am associated with in other real life social networks, and others, well we simply don't communicate much on Facebook. I didn't want to feel the need to be so connected artificially. I'm a real woman, I would prefer to connect in a real way.
It's a shame that people will take this so personally. I'm not surprised as it seems to be the way things are in our Facebook world these days, but it still is sad. People talking about it, trying to get more information as to "why" or "what is going on with her?", as if I have to be going through something negative to do something like that. I am going through something alright, I am freeing myself from all this over connectivity, plain and simple.
I kept family, I kept some high school people, I kept far away friends, and I even kept some friends and acquaintances that I do see on a somewhat regular basis for my own reasons. It does not have to be a negative action. For me it was the opposite.
